The Week: October 22-25, 2007

The new cycle of exhibitions features the Madison Watercolor Society, the teen-girl photographers of the On the Borderline Project, and four abstract expressionists.

Boulder Acoustic Society

High Noon Saloon, 9 pm

The energetic Colorado group extends the string-band formula by blending airy Gypsy jazz with American roots music.

Tuesday 10.23

Alta Charo

Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 7 pm

The UW's medical ethicist is back from a year at the University of California, heart of the biotech industry. She'll explain how Wisconsin can keep its competitive edge in research.

Madison Symphony Orchestra

Overture Center's Overture Hall, 7:30 pm

Members of the MSO join with organist Samuel Hutchison to showcase the majestic Overture Concert Organ. The program includes works by Bach and Dupré; tingling at the back of your neck is all but guaranteed.

Pepper

Annex, 8 pm

The Hawaiian-expats smooth out the night with their groove-friendly hybrids of rock, reggae and metal.

Architecture in Helsinki

High Noon Saloon, 8 pm

Thanks to a dose of Caribbean rhythms and a flamboyant approach to stagecraft, the Australian band are bouncing their way to indie-rock glory.

The local novelist celebrates the release of Vampire Cabbie, in which a vampire moves to Madison and finds work driving a cab -- coincidentally, Schepartz's own profession. Knuckel Drager provides the party's rocking soundtrack.

Sevendust

Orpheum Theatre, 6:30 pm

After playing footsie with a more mainstream sound, the nu-metal survivors have returned to the crunching guitars and punishing rhythms of their youth.

Michael Eric Dyson

Wisconsin Union Theater, 7:30 pm

The Georgetown University professor offers a perspective on hip-hop culture, race and gender as part of the UW's Distinguished Lecture Series.

Still noisy after all these years, Tokyo's unrelenting Melt Banana leave legions of pedestrian punkers in the dust.

Thursday 10.25

Gary Sick

UW Grainger Hall, 8 pm

Sick served on the staff of the National Security Council under presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan, so he might be able to answer this question: "Is a U.S. Military Strike on Iran Inevitable?"

Matthew Dear & Big Hands

Cafe Montmartre, 8 pm

Not content to get up in front of the dance-floor divas with nothing more than a song in his heart and a laptop at his fingertips, electronic shape shifter Matthew Dear has signed on a full band for this excursion.

Chuck Prophet

High Noon Saloon, 8 pm

The Green on Red alum has a classic nasal baritone and a gift for penning hooky, country-leaning rock and Americana that's flecked bits of punk and psychedelia.

Jon Hozier-Byrne and David Reilly traveled from Dublin, Ireland, to Madison to tape two episodes of "Beer & Board Games," a popular web series where four comedians drink beer while playing a board game.more »

Bleachers' "Strange Desire" is the rare rock record that's both a soundtrack for summer cookouts as well as personal crises. Now this side project is a full-time gig for fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff. He visits Majestic Madison on March 31.more »

FOOD & DRINK

The tap takeover at Craftsman Table & Tap offers an opportunity to experience Deschutes' range, and to determine if the Bend, Oregon-based brewery, the sixth largest in the U.S., can compete with Wisco's own. Robin Shepard takes on the job.more »